Andy needs team to click
Friday, 6th Sep 2019“We have got some good players in this squad, we just need them to click and get it to click pretty quick, to be honest, or we will could find ourselves in a sticky situation.”
The Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup is important insists Pars striker Andy Ryan:-
“It is a competitive first team competition, there is a trophy to be won and we will be trying our best to see how far we can get in it. We will be treating it with all due respect but it will be against a difficult side in Alloa since they are in the Championship as well.”
It was Alloa Athletic who knocked Dunfermline out of last season’s version of the Challenge Cup when it was known as the Irn Bru Cup but Andy was subbed in 69th minute while 2-1 up. Alloa equalised within a minute and went on to win on penalties. Keen to start on Saturday, the 24 year old added:-
“I will just treat the week’s training as if it was a Championship game at the weekend. Work hard and hopefully give the manager something to think about.”
Help in exacting revenge on Alloa could come in the shape of Greg Kiltie who was signed on Monday on loan from Kilmarnock. Andy described his new team mate:-
“He is a real talent, he is good on the ball, composed and hopefully he will bring that to the midfield.”
The shortage of league points is getting to the urgent stage for the team and Andy pointed out that with another player coming into the squad there is a need to gel:-
“We have got some good players in this squad, we just need them to click and get it to click pretty quick, to be honest, or we will could find ourselves in a sticky situation.”
The Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup could be a welcome respite from the fight for Championship points and the management could try a different approach in this competition as we will no doubt see others do. Andy continued:-
“The manager has been chopping and changing formations for different kinds of games, tests and venues. It will maybe be a little different here at East End.
“Before I signed on I had a number of chats with the manager and he said that there would be some games with one upfront, sometimes two or it might be a three with one upfront and two wide men. I knew that he would chop and change a bit so I just need to be patient and try and take my chance.”
Through injury Andy missed all of last season from 10th November onwards, only returning in 73rd minute of the final game at Inverness in May. This season he has played in eight of the Pars nine matches but even after scoring against St Mirren on the opening day, he still describes his season as a bit up and down so far.
“Hopefully I can try and get a few more minutes under my belt and try and kick on from there.”
As a striker seeking better and more deliveries, Andy welcomes Stevie Crawford bringing in wide players like Anthony McDonald and Greg Kiltie:-
“To be fair it is one thing that we have been good at this season and the manager addressed getting more crosses in the box. Try to be a bit more of a threat from that side, I don’t think we scored enough goals from that kind of area last season.
“That is something that we have been working on in training. Trying to isolate people out wide and get deliveries into the box.”
Andy watched last Saturday’s match against Arbroath from the subs bench until he replaced Lewis McCann seven minutes from the end. Like all the others Andy was very disappointed with the outcome:-
“Obviously we wanted to go up there and win on the back of a poor performance against Dundee United. Training this week has been competitive so we will be looking for a reaction again on Saturday.
“We knew that it was going to be difficult, a totally different kind of test to the one we had here against Dundee and Dundee United. We treated Arbroath with respect and we just didn’t play well on the day.
“The conditions were difficult. Anybody who was at the game or saw some highlights would be able to see that but listen that is not an excuse, it was the same for both teams. They used it better than us.”
Andy played in the last Dunfermline side to win a Challenge Cup tie in 90 minutes, at Inverness in August 2018, and he makes no secret of the fact that he would like to be in the next Dunfermline team to win in this competition.
“It is always the same when you get a disappointing, not just result, but performance as well. Hopefully there is a reaction on Saturday.”
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